Freshly examined lake sediments supplied more details about the climate in the East Settlement where Vikings lived in Greenland. (Image credit: Tobias Schneider )Researchers may have discovered a crucial factor behind why the Norse inexplicably abandoned their largest settlement on Greenland. And it wasn’t cold weather, as some had long idea. Rather, drought might have played a major function in the desertion of the Eastern Settlement of Vikings around 1450
, brand-new research study suggests.”We conclude that progressively dry conditions played a more important role in weakening the practicality of the Eastern Settlement than minor temperature modifications,” a group of scientists– much of whom are based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst– wrote in an article published online March 23 in the journal Science Advances.
“Drier environment would have especially decreased grass production, which was vital for animals overwintering, and this drying pattern is concurrent with a Norse diet plan shift” towards seafood, the team composed.
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